


Return of a Legend

by Bookwyrmie



Category: Star Wars: Rebels
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Inspired by Hline's AU, Mandalorian Culture, myths and legends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-18
Updated: 2020-04-18
Packaged: 2021-02-28 18:34:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,033
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23211853
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bookwyrmie/pseuds/Bookwyrmie
Summary: "When the Usurper invited Heads of the Great Houses to Sundari for a celebration of the Empire's invasion not one of them suspected the trap that was about to be sprung. The request was humiliating and demeaning, but despite everything they still believed that the Usurper would need some excuse before acting, no matter how transparent.The Liberator had seen the beginning of the Purge. She knew that the Usurper needed no excuse to act, only the opportunity and the power to ensure that the only stories told were ones of his choosing."With the right inspiration, stories can spread far beyond their original source. When Sabine acts to save her people she has no time to think of how her story will grow.
Comments: 5
Kudos: 27





	Return of a Legend

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Every Colour But Red](https://archiveofourown.org/works/17627273) by [HLine](https://archiveofourown.org/users/HLine/pseuds/HLine). 



> Legend style retelling of Sabine's backstory and the return of the Mask of Mand’alor, having found a new bearer to free its people from an invading empire and “Saxon the Usurper”.

It was a time of unrest in the Galaxy, an Empire spreading its influence, conquering any that dared stand against it and ruling its subjects with iron gauntlets. It did not dare to challenge Mandalore directly, unwilling to pay the costs of a war against a people raised as warriors, but the agents of the Empire were insidious, always searching for weakness and ready to exploit any flaw that could be found. 

The system was at the time embroiled in a civil war between Houses, and the agents of the Empire saw their opportunity in the conflict. They allied themselves with the Usurper, the Head of a Great House himself but willing to sell his people to the Empire for the power they offered him. With the Usurper as a figurehead the Empire took control of the Mandalore system, ending the civil war while making sure to keep the other Houses divided. So began the Empires slow game of conquering the Mandalorian people, pitting them against each other with threats and false promises while draining their strength and will to fight without ever setting foot in the field of open combat.

It was into this world of lies and cruelty that the Liberator arrived, heart aflame with a wish to learn and grow. Unaware of the web of deception she was walking into that would do it's best to break her.  


_—__—_—_-_-_-_—_—____—__-__-___—__

The first time she arrived on Mandalore she was still a child, sent at the Usurpers request to attend an Academy built by the Empire, as a show of her Clan's loyalty. She noticed none of the movements in the shadows, trusting the Usurper implicitly as the head of her Clan's House, and threw herself into learning, absorbing new knowledge and skills like a saviin flower in early spring, disregarding the chill in the air and snow still on the ground to open it’s blooms and soak up sunlight. 

Every being carries a spark of creativity within their hearts, the spark that artists and crafters nurture into bright, burning flame and use to transform the world around them, giving thoughts and ideas a physical form to be seen by others. That same spark that echoes in the hearts of warriors as they learn to face hardship and let it inspire them to become more than they are. As they recognize the fleeting beauty of living to fight another day, and the act of living itself gains a new meaning and purpose.

The Usurper wanted warriors who would fight for him without question in the Empire's name, who would obey orders no matter what they were commanded to do. It was for that purpose the Sundari Academy existed, shaping the coming generation in the Empire's image, fighting for no reason other than following orders.

To reach its goal the Empire needed to stamp out that spark, smother it in any way it could, or it would flare up one day and spread into a wildfire.

The Liberator was an artist who trained as a warrior and she poured her heart and soul into her work, making tools and weapons and designing systems for the fierce joy of shaping the world, building something that would help her people. She shared her designs with the Usurper trusting him to use them well, instead he brought them to the Empire to be reforged into weapons of destruction, twisted into cruel mockery of their intended purpose. 

-_-_-________——____-__-___—_____-__—___—_-

The next time unrest stirred in the system the Empire was ready to act, unleashing a purge in the heart of Mandalore that nobody honest could have imagined, let alone been prepared for. Under the transparent excuse of rooting out enemy combatants holders and creators of art and culture were marked for death, their creations crushed and burned along with them, the ashes scattered and forgotten with no one left alive to mourn and remember. 

The Liberator watched the horror unfold, frozen by betrayal as reassuring lies were ground into dust, revealing the true colors of the Usurper whom she given so much. Unable to face the carnage that would leave experienced warriors battling nightmares at its end, and recognizing her own work in the weapon used to hunt down her people, she tried to run but could find no shelter even within her own clan. 

The fire in her heart was going out, smothered by guilt and shame and the harsh sting of betrayal, cut off from its source of strength like a saviin flower torn up by the roots and left to dry out on baked earth, denied shelter or support even of the ground it grew in. She had seen the weapon her mind would become, leashed by the Empire's power, and she knew that she could not let it happen again. But with no hope to light the way, no spark to drive her forward, the Liberator could see no way out from the Usurpers influence. All she could see was the forced indifference of those still alive, serving the Empire that killed their kin, and the many dead who were yet to be buried, all she could think of to escape was to join the dead, where no-one could force her into the Empire's service.

______——_-____—__-_____—________————__-_-__----

Instead, another path revealed itself, brought by a wanderer arriving from the stars. 

The Wanderer had been a Jetii once, before disaster struck and left him drifting, traveling the galaxy in search of a purpose. After years alone he had found a new cause in a small cargo ship and its crew, fighting against the Empire, and building it into a home worth defending. 

The Liberator was lost when the Wanderer found her, until he offered her hope to light the way. The ship and crew he belonged to had space for another and the Liberator would be welcome to join them, far from the Usurper's influence, or even the Empire's, in a place of shelter and freedom that she had stopped believing could exist. It was no grand promise of power or honor, she had heard enough of those from the Usurper already, but the Wanderer's words shifted the despair that had been smothering her heart like ashes and the Liberator found the strength to continue on once more. 

The spark in her heart flaring back to life, the Liberator found a last way to strike a blow to her enemy before leaving. Emboldened by the Wanderer's promise of sanctuary she crept back into the Academy, reclaiming her paints and her armor, then made her way to the Hall of Imperial Records. Everything she had designed while under the Empires thumb was kept there, each creation a potential weapon against her people. The charges she placed ensured that they would never be used that way again, by anyone. She could not change the past, or the fates of those who were already dead, but the destruction of the records would provide cover for those still living to slip away, escaping the Empire's grasp, and living to fight another day. 

The strike was small, but well aimed. The Purge ended, and the Liberator escaped, traveling free among the stars. 

_-______—_____-____————_______—__—_-___—__-____--

The Usurper tightened his grip on the system, using the shock and horror of the Purge to solidify his power. None of the Great Houses dared to stand against him, caught unprepared by the sudden escalation, and fearing for their homes should they move to boldly. Instead of open defiance the Heads of the Great Houses armed themselves for a silent war, even as the Usurper claimed their lands as his to command and stole their children for the Empires academies. 

The Great Houses dared not act openly, not yet. Sheltering under the cover of fearful obedience they began to work on an alliance that never would have even been thought possible against an honorable enemy, but the Usurpers actions against those he claimed to lead was an evil of such magnitude as to make any House feud look like petty squabbles.

_-_—_-____-__-____-__________————__-__-_-__—__-____-____—_______-_

The Liberator joined the wider fight against the Empire, learning how to let go of her misplaced guilt and self blame as she began to look to the future, forming new roots and building the spark in her heart back into a bright flame, growing stronger and more resilient as she healed. She built a new life until, when echoes of the past came to haunt, she could stand firm in defense of the family she claimed, and trust that they would do the same for her.

The Usurper sought to claim the hearts of those he ruled, and found an answer in the legends of Mand'alor. With the Empire's aid he sought relics of the true rulers to twist into tools of oppression, making plans to kill the Heads of the Great Houses and becoming the only leader for the people to turn too. The Darksaber was found in that manner and the Usurper claimed it as a trophy, all that the weapon would ever be in his hands. It was not long before the Empire's agents found hints of the location of the Mask of Mand'alor, and with an expedition planned into the deeper parts of the Undrcity to find it, the time to strike began to draw near.

Returning to Mandalore on an unrelated mission, the Liberator soon found herself on the trail of the Usurper's plot. Ambushed by the Empire in the Old City and protecting a younger brother she fell down into the Undercity, and in losing one path found another, leading to the tomb of the Last Mand'alor. Untouched for thousands of years, the tomb still held its treasures and the spirit of it's owner, waiting for somebody to arrive who was worthy of what lay within.

_______———__-_—______———_-___—_—____—_—______—____———_---

When the Usurper invited Heads of the Great Houses to Sundari for a celebration of the Empire's invasion not one of them suspected the trap that was about to be sprung. The request was humiliating and demeaning, but despite everything they still believed that the Usurper would need some excuse before acting, no matter how transparent.

The Liberator had seen the beginning of the Purge. She knew that the Usurper needed no excuse to act, only the opportunity and the power to ensure that the only stories told were ones of his choosing. 

She heard of the Heads of the Great Houses brought together to the same place, walking into the Usurpers stronghold, and recognized the danger. The most influential leaders of Mandalore not on the Empire's leash, gathered in a location where they could be killed in a single strike, with no time to retaliate or even react and no witnesses to spread the word of the betrayal.

_-__—_-__-_-_____—____———_-__-__——

There was no time to prepare, as the Liberator donned the Mask of Mand'alor and set out to deliver the message that could save her people. Relying on stealth to make it through defenses she made her way into the heart of the Usurper's stronghold, knowing that the communications centre there could block any message from transmitting, or spread it across the entire system. From there she could crack a hole in the stronghold's defenses, weakening the Usurper's trap from the inside.

The Wanderer had tried to follow the Liberator's trail into danger after they had been separated by the Empire's ambush, instead he found himself in the presence of the Heads of the Great Houses as they heard of the trap they were in. When the Usurper tried to take the chance to strike the Wanderer held the blast at bay, buying time for the Heads and their people to fight their way free.

Bearing the solid weight of the Mask of Mand'alor and claiming the Darksaber from the Usurper's grasp by force, the Liberator sparked a fire with her actions and words. A call to action that few could ignore, igniting a flame across the system to burn the Empire everywhere it touched.


End file.
